Where do I begin?

My name is Tamara and I am from Cincinnati Ohio. In 2018, I purchased outright a 2016 Dodge Journey SXT with 88,000 miles on it for 18,000 dollars. Mind you this is a dealership that my family has purchased 3 cars from;One leased, one financed and one bought. The reputable Mark Sweeny Buick GMC on ridge rd. I have always taken my car to Dodge for tune ups and oil changes. On May 2, 2021 on the way home from grocery shopping with my little ones not even 1 mile away when my car began to shake profusely. Scariest experience ever. I called car shield and let them know about my car issue and let them know I would have it in the shop early in the week. I complied with my words and got it there promptly. It was driveable on the regular street at the point as long as you were over 2 rpm's or else it would shake. We got the vehicle to the car shop and before the day was out we got the first call.

"You need to get a major tune up and cylinder 6 ignition coil; the Engine has an extreme misfire for we are also replacing the engine oil cooler and change the oil and filter. It needs a major tune up as well as a new fuel injector." I said wow, okaaaay. So I just had a tune up last year but okay. All of this together amounted to 1021 dollars of my money. Then came the super dreaded phone call. "Okay Tamara so after replacing everything and making sure everything was right on our end we took the car for a spin of course to assure it was running smoothly. So the check engine light is not going off. We have tried everything so we are going to take everything apart and look in the engine."

Soooo next day the worst of the worse calls. "We need you to come by here while we have everything apart because we want you to see this for yourself." Get to the shop to be shown broken metal pieces that were breaking off into the engine from the pistons breaking apart. All inside of my engine. They said this is definitely a manufacturing issue. They suggested a new engine. They were not pushy they were kind and very though. Even let me keep the car there for a while to figure out what's my next step. So of course car shield says we will only cover 400 for a 7000 dollar engine. 7,100. To be exact. How? What. The shop made it very clear to stay away from these year Dodges and Dodge period.

They said they have a ton of recalls. I let them know that it's a pandemic. I have 6 children at home remote learning and no way I could afford that. So I paid my 1021 and got my car 2 days ago that I can't really drive because Dodge made a sh*tty car, it was sold to me and now I'm left holding the bag with no one to hold accountable. An investment wasted. But I refuse to just give up like that because this isn't right and I know I'm not the only one. There are many and the journey 2014-2016 should absolutely be included for an engine recall. Dodge should replace my damn car. It's not fair to myself or my babies to not be able to get around. My father died in August 2018. I got my car in October 2018 to care for my ailing mother who was cared for by my father who suffered a stroke and beat breast cancer at the same time after having a mastectomy on the same side she later suffered a stroke on. My father is a retired accountant and mother a retired teacher; It just has made me feel so low like how could I let this happen to our family. I should have just gotten that Kia Sorento from Kia😢. Maybe i would still have a driveable vehicle.

I am a proud divorced single mother with A and B grade children even during a change of classroom scenery and a pandemic. What are we suppose to do? How am I suppose to care for my mother? Clean and cook for her? Get on the bus when 18,000 dollars was paid off so I had no note? Then my family gets screwed over this way? I have no help my my ex husband at all??? Like come on and not to mention the government taking a lot of my stimulus that was meant to stimulate my household? I am an intelligent black woman who knows the difference between. Being knowledgeable and being incompetent. Like what really gives? I get my last unemployment check this week. How the heck will I even be able to go to school and work to start up my own businesses like I so desperately want to do? How. I apologize I really needed to vent my stress. It's like you get picked up to constantly be knocked down. It is definitely that way amongst my community. So many people trying to better themselves to only constantly having the rug pulled from under them. I mean I have even contacted FCA CEO's via email. Someone needs to step up and do the right things for the consumers. Thank you for listening to my rant. I do hope me sharing my experience helps and prevents another struggling single parent from dealing with this stress and loss. I lost my Father, the ability to care for my mother regularly as well as my investment into a company I had so much faith in. They won't even help.

Godspeed to you all and I wish you all the best.

Update from Jun 13, 2021: This car never gave me problems until May 2021